4 killed, 17 injured in string of shootings during 4 days in Atlanta

The national drop in homicides is around 17% this year compared to the same time last year.

While violence has declined in the city, Atlanta police Chief Darin Schierbaum told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week that city and community groups should work together to build de-escalation skills in society to help stem those conflicts.

“We need the work of all of Atlanta, faith communities, civic communities, family groups, to be able to infuse society with (de-escalation) skills, how to be able to navigate those times of anger,” the chief said. “Let’s put the guns down.”

On Saturday, separate shootings hours apart left six injured, including two teenagers, according to police.

In the first incident, two men and a woman were shot around 3 a.m. at a restaurant in the 300 block of Edgewood Avenue, police said.

Officers arrived to find one man with gunshot wounds to the abdomen and thigh, a second man who had been shot in the leg and a woman with multiple gunshot wounds, police said.

All three were alert while being taken to the hospital for treatment, investigators said.

In the second shooting Saturday, officers were called at 11:37 a.m. to the 3000 block of Middleton Road, where they found three females shot, police said. The three — ages 16, 19 and 45 — were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where one person was in critical condition.

“Preliminary investigation suggests this was an ongoing dispute and investigators have one person detained for questioning,” police said.

Friday at 5:52 p.m., officers responded to a Lakewood Avenue shopping center after a man was shot to death, according to police.

Separate shootings on Broad and McDaniel streets left two others injured Friday.

A teenager was killed and five others injured Thursday night after a shooting at Empire Park in southeast Atlanta, according to authorities.

Officers responded to the park in the 200 block of Oak Drive around 9:45 p.m. and found two people who had been shot, including an 18-year-old who died at the scene. Police were also dispatched to nearby Mt. Zion Road, where they found three more gunshot victims.

Police discovered a sixth person shot in the back seat of a vehicle during a traffic stop on nearby Old Hapeville Road. He had been struck in the leg, according to police.

Also Thursday, at approximately 1 p.m., officers were called to the 1600 block of Memorial Drive after a man was shot. He died at the scene. About 90 minutes later, officers were called to Skylar Way, where another man was shot and killed, police said.

On Friday, 36-year-old Tavaris Williams was charged with murder in the Thursday killings, police said.

Earlier in the week, four people were injured in three separate shootings on Greensferry Avenue, Mount Gilead Road and Willoughby Way, according to police.